I copied the d20 srd template, scratched out stuff I didn't like and then redid it at the bottom.
Steely_Dan;12056136 wrote:It was still fine, thanks to the fat Con (and Dex) bonus that the Half-Celestial template grants.
Lvl 5 Deep Dwarf Fighter or Barbarian
Assume 15 con +2 (let's add +1 from levels) = Con 18 mod +4
HP= 5 HD + Con mod
=10+2 + (4*5.5) + (4*4)
=12 + 22 + 16
=50
Which is reasonable HP for a tank to have at his lvl (usually, "tank HP" is about level * 10)
Lvl 1 Half Celestial Deep Dwarf Fighter or Barbarian
Assume 15 Con +4 = +4 con mod
HP = 1 HD + Con mod
=10 + 4
=14
Two good hits should knock the Half-Celestial guy over at lvl 5.
Yeah, that makes me cry.
Let's make the template more reasonable.
People want to "play" non-humans sometimes. That doesn't mean you have to give them inhuman statistic modifiers.
Seriosly, if you simply strip a template down to a bare minimum and then tell people that they can .... well, ****. This is a good example of what a Paragon class can do.
Half-Celestial
Sometimes really smoking outsiders meke bebies with non-outsiders. Half Celestials are the products of these pairings.
Note: Half-Celestials can be the result of any outsider/non-outsider pairing, so Succubi/Non-outsider Pairings lead to Half-Celestials, b/c Half-Celestials are beautiful, Balors and ugly outsiders create Half-Fiends; Couatl/Non-Outsider pairings are an example of a Lawful Good Half-Fiend result. The terms half fiend and half celestial are simply the terms used to tell the rough differences between the two types. As many Half-Fiend paladins who take down their foes with cold benevolent fury exist as do Half-Celestials that command massive armies of undead, monsterous humanoids and savage humanoids agaisnt civilized lands.
Grabbed the d20SRD Half-Celestial to look-over and modifiy/comment.
[sblock]
Creating A Half-Celestial
"Half-celestial" is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or higher and nonevil alignment (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
A half-celestial uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type
The creature’s type changes to outsider. Do not recalculate the creature’s Hit Dice, base attack bonus, or saves. Size is unchanged. Half-celestials are normally native outsiders.
Speed
A half-celestial has feathered wings and can fly at twice the base creature’s base land speed (goodpoor maneuverability). If the base creature has a fly speed, use that instead.
[Ok, whatever, a 4th lvl druid or a 1st lvl hafling/gnome wizard can get "combat flying". Edit: I screwed their fly speed to equal land and poor manuevrability, Paragon levels will fix this]
Armor Class
Natural armor improves by +1 (this stacks with any natural armor bonus the base creature has).
[It's 'noticable' in that you like that it's there]
Special Attacks
A half-celestial retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following special abilities.
Daylight (Su)
Half-celestials can use a daylight effect (as the spell) at will.
Smite Evil (Su)
Once per five (5) Hit Dice a half-celestial can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against an evil foe.
If using Iaimeki's Paladin of Kantian Philosophy in your game, you instead smite evil as if you were a a Paladin of half your level. This bonus stacks if you are a Paladin.
[Hmm, okay... not amazing; tweaked it so that a Half-Celestial Pally inmy game would "work" at being able to kill evil, not play second fiddle to the barbarian]
Spell-Like Abilities
A half-celestial with an Intelligence or Wisdom score of 8 or higher has two or more spell-like abilities, depending on its Hit Dice, as indicated on the table below. The abilities are cumulative
Half-Celestial Gain the Half-Celestial Sphere
HD Abilities
1-2 Protection from evil 3/day, bless
3-4 Aid, detect evil
5-6 Cure serious wounds, neutralize poison
7-8 Holy smite, remove disease
9-10 Dispel evil
11-12 Holy word
13-14 Holy aura 3/day, hallow
15-16 Mass charm monster
17-18 Summon monster IX (celestials only)
19-20 Resurrection
Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Caster level equals the creature’s HD, and the save DC is Charisma-based.
Special Qualities
[I'll have to rework this into a Pair of Bonus non-evil Spheres; Paragon class material and so forth
A half-celestial has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet. [looks good]
* Immunity to disease. [h'okay]
* Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and electricity 10. [too much, save this for the Paragon class]
* Resistance to acid 5, cold 5, and electricity 5. [noticable, but you won't shrug off every 5th lvl fireball with 1-5 damage on a successful save] [chamged my mind, no resistances]
* Damage reduction: 5/magic (if HD 11 or less) or 10/magic (if HD 12 or more). [It 'scales', and at lvl 10 creatures that don't have magic weapons isn't a threat anyway][Same with DR, you need Paragon levels to get this]
* A half-celestial’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. [Cool at 1st lvl, if you're a monk, otherwise useless to most people, and +1 weapons show up at lvl 4 anyway]
* Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 10 (maximum 35).[too much, save for the paragon class]
* Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 5 (maximum 35) If the Character has an other source of Spell Resistance, this adds +2 to that value, unless this is greater. [more managable, and it's only a 'miss chance' now, not a decent defens vs. spells]
* +4 racial bonus on Fortitude saves against poison. [uhm, ok?]
Abilities
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex +2, Con +4, Int +2, Wis +4, Cha +4.
[Too bloody much, we want him to be roughly the same power level as most PCs and have it noticable as a half-celestial]
Let's add those stat mods to a 11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10 character; then subtract the elite array from that.
11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10
+4, +2, +4, +2, +4, +4
15, 13, 15, 12, 14, 14
Elite array = 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
15, 13, 15, 12, 14, 14
- 15, 10, 14, 8, 13, 12
______________________
+0, +2, +0, +4, +0, +2
Dex +2, Int +4, Cha +2
[Much more reasonable, and they're noticable stat mods; I'll make them have to take 2 outsider HD. The problem is that people want personable and tough half-celestials, not smart ones]
Stat Modifiers: Str or Con or Dex: +2, Int or Wisdom or Cha +2
[I dunno, it's closer to being playable, it gives players some choice over where their Stat mods go, but whatever... nevermind; I'l do so that you can put +2 to one physical and one +2 mental stat, that's better than +8 to stats overall and definately better than the +20 overall to all stats that the MM half-celestial has]
Hit Dice
A Half Celestial must start with one Outsider Hitdice, this hit dice cannot be traded out for a class level and is their first hit Dice and must be added to any racial hit dice that the creature starts with. They gain a d8 Hit Dice, all good saves, 8 + int Modifier skill points to spend amoung the base creature's skills, and proficientcy with all simple weapons, light armour and any weapons, armour and sheilds that their Outsider Parent is normally equipped with.
[The fact that High level Alienists and Yeth Hounds can use great swords is part of the unbelievably dumb act of making Types to cover far too much. Light armour, simple weapons proficiency and then racial specific weapons use makes more sense]
Skills
A half-celestial gains skill points as an outsider and has skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier) × (HD +3). Do not include Hit Dice from class levels in this calculation—the half-celestial gains outsider skill points only for its racial Hit Dice, and gains the normal amount of skill points for its class levels. Treat skills from the base creature’s list as class skills, and other skills as cross-class.
[Okay, w/e this only applies to stuff like Bugbears that have racial HD]
Challenge Rating
HD 5 or less, as base creature +1; HD 6 to 10, as base creature +2; HD 11 or more, as base creature +3. [useless now at most it's CR +1; I stripped the Half-Celestial Sphere]
Alignment
Always good (any).[Scrapped]
Good or Evil (any) (the Good/Evil axis part of alignment must reflect the creature's outsider progenitor; so a Half-Celestial of an Achon parent would be Good (any), while a Half-Celestial with an Erineyes parent would have would be Evil (any))
Level Adjustment
Same as base creature +4. again, scrapped
LA +0
[/sblock]
Pretty Rough Half-Celestial "Template"; you have to pay 1 HD to be one, the mods are lower, but a +0 LA seems fine.
Creating A Half-Celestial
"Half-celestial" is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or higher and nonevil alignment (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
A half-celestial uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type
The creature’s type changes to outsider. The Bse creature gains its first hit dice as an outsider; gaining a d8 Hit Dice, +1 Bab, All three saves are good for this level, light armour and simple weapon proficiency and 8 + int mod skill points. This hit dice replaces the creature's first hit dice and cannot be replaced with class levels. Do not recalculate the creature’s other Hit Dice, base attack bonus, or saves. Size is unchanged. Half-celestials are normally native outsiders.
Speed
A half-celestial has feathered wings and can fly at the base creature’s base land speed (poor maneuverability). If the base creature has a fly speed, use that instead.
Armor Class
Natural armor improves by +1 (this stacks with any natural armor bonus the base creature has).
Special Attacks
A half-celestial retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following special abilities.
Daylight (Su)
Half-celestials can use a daylight effect (as the spell) at will.
Smite Evil (Su)
Once per five (5) Hit Dice a half-celestial can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against an evil foe.
If using Iaimeki's Paladin of Kantian Philosophy in your game, you instead smite evil as if you were a a Paladin of half your level. This bonus stacks if you are a Paladin, thus giving a Half-Celestial Paladin 1.5 Paladin levels.
Spell-Like Abilities
A half-celestial has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Immunity to disease.
* A half-celestial’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
* Spell resistance equal to creature’s HD + 5 (maximum 35) If the Character has an other source of Spell Resistance, this adds +2 to that value, unless this is greater.
* +4 racial bonus on Fortitude saves against poison.
Abilities
Str or Con or Dex: +2, Int or Wisdom or Cha +2
Hit Dice
A Half Celestial must start with one Outsider Hitdice (as listed above in their Type). This hit dice cannot be traded out for a class level and is their first hit Dice and prelaces the first racial hit dice that the creature starts with. They gain a d8 Hit Dice, all good saves, 8 + int Modifier skill points to spend amoung the base creature's skills, and proficientcy with all simple weapons, light armour and any weapons, armour and sheilds that their Outsider Parent is normally equipped with.
Skills
A half-celestial gains skill points as an outsider and has skill points equal to (8 + Int modifier) × (HD +3). Do not include Hit Dice from class levels in this calculation—the half-celestial gains outsider skill points only for its racial Hit Dice, and gains the normal amount of skill points for its class levels. Treat skills from the base creature’s list as class skills, and other skills as cross-class.
Challenge Rating: +1
Alignment
Good or Evil (any) (the Good/Evil axis part of alignment must reflect the creature's outsider progenitor; so a Half-Celestial of an Achon parent would be Good (any), while a Half-Celestial with an Erineyes parent would have would be Evil (any))
Level Adjustment
LA +0
Favored Class: Half-Celestials have Paladin and Cleric as favored classes.
Half-Celestial Paragon
Pre-Req: Must be a Half Celestial
Class Features
HD: d8
BaB: Full (1/1) Saves: Fortitude (Good); Reflex (Good); Will (Good)
Skills: Any previous Racial or Class skills
Skill Points: 8 + int modifier
- Resistances 5, Healing Psalms
- Flying 1.5x Speed (Average), Damage Reduction (5)
- Resistances 10, Blessing Psalms
- Flying 2x Speed (Good); Spell Resistance HD + 10; Damage Reduction (10)
Proficientcies: The Half Celestial Paragon gains one armour proficiency feat that they qualify for, one sheild proficiency feat that they qualify for and one weapon proficiency feat that they qualify for.
Resistances: At 1st level the Half-Celestial Pagagon gains energy Resitance 5 against Acid, Cold and Electricity. This improves at level 3 to 10.
Healing Psalms: The Half Celestial Gains access to serveral spell like abilities via the non-evil version of Spheres; Psalms. In this case the Healing collection of Psalms.
Flying: At second level, the Half-Celestial's Flying improves to one and a half times their land speed and average manueverability. This improves to double their creature's land speed and Good manueverability at level 5.
Damage Reduction: At third level, the Half-Celestial gains damage reduction at a rate of 1 per hit dice that they have, that is negated by magic and has a maximum cap of DR 5/Magic (5). At 5th level this maximum increases to 10 and is negated only by magic weapons that are evily aligned; thus a maximum of DR 10/Evil and Magic.
Blessing Psalms: The Half Celestial Gains access to serveral spell like abilities via the non-evil version of Spheres; Psalms. In this case the Blessing collection of Psalms.
Spell Resistance:At fifth level, the Half-Celestials Spell resistance increases to their HD + 10 (maximum of 35). This can be added to any existing spell resistance and instead adds +3 to the existing spell resistance if it is greater than this provided Spell Resistance.
Psalms
Psalms are the non-evil equivalent of Sphere [scroll down to half-way down the post]
The Spheres/Psalms
Fiends (and some of their minions and associates) cast magic primarily through spell-like abilities. While many signature fiends have arbitrary lists of spell-like abilities, the Tome of Fiends offers a method to advance Fiends into thematically appropriate spell-like abilities when they advance. When a fiend has access to a sphere, she is able to use all of the abilities within that sphere up to her character level. If she gains more levels, more powers of the sphere become available. In this way the spell-like abilities of fiends created with the rules in this tome should always be aesthetically and level appropriate.
Basic Sphere Access: When a creature has basic access to a sphere, she can use any of the spells listed in the sphere may be used once per day (each) as spell-like abilities, provided that their listed level is equal or lower to the creature's character level.
Advanced Sphere Access: When a creature has advanced access to a sphere, she can use any of the spells listed in the sphere may be used 3 times per day (each) as spell-like abilities, provided that their listed level is equal or lower to the creature's character level.
Expert Sphere Access: When a creature has expert access to a sphere, any spells listed in the sphere may be used at will as spell-like abilities, provided that their listed level is equal or lower to the creature's character level.
Creating new spheres: The following list of spheres isn't intended to be comprehensive, and we fully expect that some players and DMs will want many more spheres than we have scribed. All new spheres must be approved of by the DM, and should represent some actual (indifferent or evil) trait like "intoxication" or "badgers" rather than a game mechanical notion like "kicking ass and being totally sweet" or something praiseworthy like "generosity". A good place to start is actually Domains, as these are already a source by which a character gain a spell at every odd-numbered
Spheres and Spell Levels: Spell-like abilities used out of spheres re considered to be cast as a spell level equal to half the minimum needed character level to use the ability (rounded up). The save DC of a spell-like ability granted through Sphere access is Charisma-based. Thus, the save DC for a spell-like ability which becomes available at character level 5 is 12 + Charisma bonus.
Blessing
Special: As a standard action you may invoke a divine blessing upon any target within close range; they gain a bonus to their next roll equal to half your hit dice[/b]
1 Bless
3 Prayer
5 Good Hope
7 Recitation
9 Holy Smite
11 Dispel Evil
13 Hallow
15 Summon Monster VIII (Outsiders of your alignment only)
17 Ressurection
19 Miracle (Non-xp costing miracles only
Healing
Special: As an immediate action you may channel positive energy on any target that you touch. You can heal and amount equal to your character level per use. This is a spell-like abilitiy and you may use it to harm undead, but they get to make a will save for half damage (the DC is based on 10+ 1/2 Hit Dice + Charisma Modifier)[/b]
1 Cure Light wounds
3 Delay Poison
5 Neutralize Poison
7 Remove Disease
9 Insignia of Healing [Maximized]
11 Heal
13 Mass Cure Critical Wounds
15 Mass Heal
17 True Ressurection
19 Miracle (May only be used to heal or revive a creature)
Coming up with 'good' non-boring choices for the healing psalms was annoying.
Anyway, yeah, you can turn anything into a low/no LA class. Mechanically it looks different, but from a flavour point of view it's pretty much the same.
An above average individual with feathered wings and certain elements that show it's extra-planar heritage.
With levels in the paragon class, more of the templates abities are availible and you get HD and stuff for it.
I really should put full caster progression in it as well. That makes people shout "hax", but as it stands, taking Half-Celestial Paragon levels are actually better for the DM since he's not gonna have to worry about Sacred Exorcists, Icantrixes or Archmages showing up.
Jim Johnny, did you lok at the +0 LA Vampire and the Vampire Paragon class?
The Vampire template is for people who want to be a vampire. The Vampire Paragon is for people that want to have all the cool things that vampires normally have as well as some of their flaws.
Plus, the flaws come in different flavours as well; garlic does nothing to core vampires, neither does dropping grains on the ground, nor does a vampire. need to be invited into a dwelling under the core rules; but both are known to keep vampires back).
